In
Thailand, there are many meditation centers all over the country. Every meditation
center is aimed to spread Dhammas through teaching and practicing which has
important role in serving all people who tend to develop the mind by practicing
meditation.

As
we all commonly know that meditation centers are one of important religious
institutions in Thailand which it is used for promoting Buddhism in several
ways particularly teaching of Buddhist meditation, giving knowledge on Dhammas
of the Buddha, and practicing meditation together. These things can be united
people live together in peace. Even there are many temples in Thailand but some
temples have no meditation center to serve all people from many corners of the
world especially temples where are situated in the countryside. It’s caused
Buddhists hard to find an appropriate place for their meditation practice.

Fortunately,
a number of meditation centers have been increasing for years because people those
who strongly believe in Buddhism have established the Buddhist association
nationwide in Thailand, aiming for serving Buddhists to understand Dhammas and
practice Dhammas. In addition, someone has personal meditation room at his/her
house which makes him/her comfortable in practicing meditation by self.

In
summation, meditation centers are very important to all Buddhists around the
world in aiding them to get more understand both learning theory and practical
theory of Buddhist meditation for the real peace as the Buddha has taught that
“peace comes from within. Do not seek it without”.

Daphne M. Davis and Jeffrey A.
Hayes. (2012). What are the benefits of
mindfulness: A wealth of new research has explored this age-old
practice. Here's a look at its benefits for both clients and psychologists.
Pennsylvania State University.

Luang Por Buddhadasa founded his forest
hermitage Suan Mokkh (garden of liberation) in 1930, a center for Dhamma study
and practice Dhamma. Suan Mokkh is situated in Surat Thani Provinceof southern Thailand. The fundamental
teaching of him mainly focused on the quiet awareness of one's breathing
pattern calledAnapanasati. But his practical personality was
very much grounded in advanced research and interpretation of earlyPalitexts on the one hand, and on his basic
private experimentation on the other hand.

In later years, Luang Por Buddhadasa's
teachings attracted many foreign seekers and Thai Buddhists to his hermitage
(Suan Mokhh). He held Dhamma talks with Buddhist scholars and clergy of various
faiths. His objective in these discussions was to probe the similarities at the
heart of each of the major world religions which it brought the peace to the
world. Before the last stage of his death in 1993, he established an International
Dhamma Hermitage Center across the highway from his own retreat to assist people
both Thai and foreign people by educating of Buddhism and other yogic practices
to international people.

2.Founder of Suan Mokhh (Buddhadasa Bhikkhu)

Luang Por
Buddhadasa Bhikkhu (Servant of the Buddha) was ordained as a Bhikkhu (Buddhist
monk) in 1926, at the age of twenty. After finishing study in Bangkok, which
convinced him "purity is not to be found in the big city," he was
inspired to live closely with nature in order to contemplate the Buddha’s
teachings. Thus, he established Suan Mokkh monastery (The Grove
of the Power of Liberation) in 1932, it’s closed his hometown
of Pum Riang (now in Chaiya District). At that time, it was the only forest
Dhamma Center and one of the few places dedicated to Vipassana meditation in
Southern Thailand. Word of Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, his academic work, and Suan
Mokkh spread over the years so that they are easily described as "one of
the most influential events of Buddhist history in Siam." Here, we can
only mention some of the most interesting services he has rendered Buddhism.

Luang Por
Buddhadasa worked painstakingly to establish and explain the correct and
essential principles of what he called "pristine Buddhism," that is,
the original realization of the Lord Buddha before it was buried under
commentaries, ritualism, clerical politics, and the like. His work was based in
extensive research of the Pali texts (Canon and commentary), especially of the
Buddha's Discourses (Sutta Pitaka), followed by personal experiment and
practice with these teachings. Then he taught whatever he could say truly
quenches Dukkha (dissatisfaction, suffering). His main goal was to produce a complete
set of references for present and future research and practice. His approach
was always scientific, straight-forward, and very practical.

Although
his formal education only went as far as ninth grade and beginning Pali
studies, he was given five Honorary Doctorates by many famous universities of
Thailand. His books, both written and transcribed from talks, fill a room at
the National Library and influence all serious Thai Buddhists in Siam. Doctoral
dissertations are still being written about him and his legacy. His books can
be found in bookstores around the country and are favorites as gifts at
cremations.

Progressive
elements in Thai society, especially the young, were inspired by his teaching
and selfless example. Since the 1960's, activists and thinkers in areas such as
education, ecology, social welfare, and rural development have drawn upon his
teaching and advice. Most of the monks involved in nature
conservation and
community development were inspired by him. He provided the link between the
scriptural tradition and engaged Buddhist practice today.

After the
founding of Suan Mokkh, he studied all schools of Buddhism, as well as the
other major religious traditions. This interest was practical rather than
scholarly. He sought to unite all genuinely religious people in order to work
together to help, as he put it, "drag humanity out from under the power of
materialism." This broadmindedness won him friends and students from
around the world, including Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs.

His final
project was to establish an International Dhamma Hermitage. This addition to
Suan Mokkh is intended to provide facilities for:

I.
To introduce
foreigners to the right understanding of Buddhist principles and practice
meditation on the right way according to the Buddha’s teaching.

II.
To be
religious place for meetings among Buddhists from around the world to
establish and agree upon the "heart of Buddhism".

III.
To be
used for meetings of leaders from all religions for the sake of making mutual
good understanding and cooperating to drag the world out from under the
tyranny of materialism.

IV.
He left
instruction for the building of Dhamma-Mata, a residential
facility to support the dedicated study-practice of women. He called it Dhamma-Mata (Dhamma
Mothers, those who give birth to others through Dhamma).

Luang Por
Buddhadasa died in 1993 after a series of heart attacks and strokes that he
kept bouncing back from in order to teach. The final stroke occurred as he was
preparing notes for a talk to be given on his birthday in two days (27
May). Suan Mokkh carries
on in the hearts and actions of all those who have been inspired and guided by
his example and words. Suan Mokkh is not so much a physical place as it is the
place of liberation that all seekers must discover in life.

3.The meditation Technique of
Luang Por Buddhadasa Bhikkhu

(Mindfulness with breathing)

Luang Por
Buddhadasa Bkikkhu has always taught his meditation technique by wording and
practicing. His teaching about sitting meditation is that all practitioners
must sit up straight (with all the vertebrae of the spine fitting together
snugly). Keep your head upright. Direct your eyes towards the tip of your nose
so that nothing else is seen. Whether you see it or not doesn't really matter,
just gaze in its direction. Once you get used to it, the results will be better
than closing the eyes and you won't be encouraged to fall asleep so easily.

In
particular, people who are sleepy should practice with their eyes open rather
than closed. Practice like this steadily and they will close by themselves when
the time comes for them to close. (If you want to practice with your eyes
closed from the start, that's up to you.) Still, the method of keeping the eyes
open gives better results. Some people, however, will feel that it's too
difficult, especially those who are attached to closing their eyes. They won't
be able to practice with their eyes open, and may close them if they wish.

Lay the hands
in your lap, comfortably, one on top of the other. Overlap or cross your legs
in a way that distributes and holds your weight well, so that you can sit
comfortably and will not fall over easily. The legs can be overlapped in an
ordinary way or crossed, whichever you prefer or are able to do. Fat people can
only cross their legs in what is called the "diamond posture" (lotus
posture) with difficulty, but fancy postures are not necessary. Merely sit with
the legs folded so that your weight is evenly balanced and you cannot tip over
easily -- that's good enough. The more difficult and serious postures can be
left for when one gets serious, like a yogi. In special circumstances when you
are sick, not feeling well, or just tired you can rest against something, sit
on a chair, or use a deck chair, in order to recline a bit. Those who are sick
can even lie down to meditate.

Sit in a
place with good air circulation, where you can breathe comfortably. There
should be nothing overly disturbing. Loud noises which are steady and have no
meaning, such as the sound of waves or a factory are no problem unless you
attach to them as a problem. Sounds with meaning, such as people speaking, are
more of a problem for those just learning to practice. If you can't find a
quiet place, pretend there aren't any sounds. Just be determined to practice
and it will work out eventually.

Although the eyes are gazing
inattentively at the tip of the nose, you can gather your attention
or awareness or sati, as it's called in our technical language, in order
to catch and note your own breathing in and out. (Those who like to close their
eyes will do so from here on.) Those who prefer to leave the eyes open will do
so continually until the eyes gradually close on their own as concentration and
calmness (samadhi) increases.

In the
beginning of practicing mindfulness meditation, those who are practitioners
should make it easy to note the breathing, try to breathe as long as you can.
Force it in and out strongly many times. Do so in order to know clearly for
yourself what the breath rubs against or touches as it draws in and out along
its path. In a simple way, notice where it appears to end in the belly (by
taking the physical sensations as one's measure rather than anatomical
reality). Note this in an easy-going way as well as you can, well enough to fix
the inner and outer end points of the breathing. Don't be tense or too strict about
it.

Most practitioners
will feel the breath striking at the tip of the nose and should take that point
as the outer end. (In people with flat or upturned noses the breath will strike
on the edge of the upper lip, and they should take that as the external end.)
Now you will have both outer and inner end points by fixing one point at the
tip of the nose and the other at the navel. The breath will drag itself back
and forth between these two points. Here make your mind just like something
which chases after or stalks the breathing, like a tiger or a spy, unwilling to
part with it even for a moment, following every breath for as long as you
meditate. This is the first step of our practice. We call it "chasing
after (or stalking) the whole time."

Earlier we
said to begin by trying to make the breathing as long as possible, and as
strong, vigorous, and rough as possible, many times from the very start. Do so
in order to find the end points and the track the breath follows between them.
Once the mind (or sati) can catch and fix the breathing in
and out -- by constantly being aware of how the breath touches and flows, then
where it ends, then how it turns back either inside or outside -- you can
gradually relax the breathing until it becomes normal no longer forcing or
pushing it in any way. (Be careful: don't force or control it at all.) Still, sati fixes
on the breathing the whole time, just as it did earlier with the rough and
strong breathing.

Sati is able to pay attention to the entire path of
the breath from the inner end point (the navel or the base of the abdomen) to
the outer end point (the tip of the nose or the upper lip). However fine or soft
the breath becomes, Sati can clearly note it all the time. If it happens that
we cannot note (or feel) the breath because it is too soft or refined, then
breathe more strongly or maybe roughly again. (But not as strong or rough as
before, just enough to note the breath clearly.

Fix attention
on the breathing again until Sati is aware of it
without any gaps. Make sure it can be done well, that is, keep practicing until
even the purely ordinary, unforced breathing can be securely observed. However
long or short it is, know it. However heavy or light it is, know it. Know it
clearly within that very awareness as sati merely holds closely to and follows
the breathing back and forth the whole time you are meditating. When you can do
this it means success in the level of preparation called "chasing after
all the time."

Lack of success
is due to the inability of Sati (or the attention) to stay with the breathing
the whole time. You don't know when it lost track. You don't know when it ran
off to home, work, or play. You don't know until it's already gone. And you
don't know when it went, how, why, or whatever. Once you are aware of what
happened, catch the breathing again, gently bring it back to the breathing, and
train until successful on this level. Do it for at least ten minutes each
session, before going on to the next step.

The next
step, the second level of preparation, is called "waiting (or guarding) in
ambush at one point." It's best to practice this second step only after
the first step can be done well, but anyone who can skip straight to the second
won't be scolded. At this stage, Sati (or recollection)
lies in wait fixing at a particular point and stops chasing after the
breathing. Note the sensation when the breathing enters the body all the way
(to the navel or thereabouts) once, then let go or release it.

Next, note
when the breathing contacts the other end point (the tip of the nose) once
more, then let go or leave it alone until it contacts the inner end point
(navel) again. Continue like this without changing anything. In moments of
letting go, the mind doesn't run away to home, the fields, the office, or
anywhere. This means that Sati pays attention at the
two end points both inner and outer and doesn't pay attention to anything
between them.

Whenever you
can securely go back and forth between the two end points without paying
attention to things in between, leave out the inner end point and focus only on
the outer, namely, the tip of the nose. Now, sati consistently
watches only at the tip of the nose. Whether the breathing strikes while
inhaling or while exhaling, know it every time. This is called "guarding
the gate." There's a feeling as the breathing passes in or out; the rest
of the way is left void or quiet. If you have firm awareness at the nose tip,
the breathing becomes increasingly calm and quiet. Thus you can't feel
movements other than at the nose tip. In the spaces when it's empty or quiet,
when you can't feel anything, the mind doesn't run away to home or elsewhere.
The ability to do this well is success in the "waiting in ambush at one
point" level of preparation.

Lack of
success is when the mind runs away without you knowing. It doesn't return to
the gate as it should or, after entering the gate, it sneaks all the way
inside. Both of these errors happen because the period of emptiness or quiet is
incorrect and incomplete. You have not done it properly since the start of this
step. Therefore, you ought to practice carefully, solidly, expertly from the
very first step.

Even the
beginning step, the one called "chasing after the whole time," is not
easy for everyone. Yet when one can do it, the results -- both physical and
mental -- are beyond expectations. So you ought to make yourself able to do it,
and do it consistently, until it is a game like the sports you like to play. If
you have even two minutes, by all means practice. Breathe forcefully, if your
bones crack or rattle that's even better. Breathe strongly until it whistles, a
little noise won't hurt. Then relax and lighten it gradually until it finds its
natural level.

The ordinary
breathing of most people is not natural or normal, but is coarser or lower than
normal, without us being aware. Especially when we do certain activities or are
in positions which are restricted, our breathing is more or less course than it
ought to be, although we don't know it. So you ought to start with strong,
vigorous breathing first, then let it relax until it becomes natural. In this
way, you'll end up with breathing which is the "middle way" or just
right. Such breathing makes the body natural, normal, and healthy. And it is
fit for use as the object of meditation at the beginning of Anapanasati (4). Let us stress once more that this first step of
preparation ought to be practiced until it's just a natural game for every one
of us, and in all circumstances. This will bring numerous physical and mental
benefits.

Actually, the
difference between "chasing after the whole time" and "waiting
in ambush at one place" is not so great. The latter is a little more
relaxed and subtle, that is, the area noted by sati decreases. To make this
easier to understand, we'll use the simile of the baby sitter rocking the baby's
hammock.

At first, when the child has just been
put into the hammock, it isn't sleepy yet and will try to get out. At this
stage, the baby sitter must watch the hammock carefully. As it swings from side
to side, her head must turn from left to right so that the child won't be out
of sight for a moment. Once the baby begins to get sleepy and doesn't try to
get out anymore, the baby sitter need not turn her head from left to right,
back and forth, as the hammock swings. The baby sitter only watches when the
hammock passes in front of her face, which is good enough. Watching only at one
point while the hammock is in front of her face, the baby won't have a chance
to get out of the hammock just the same, because the child is ready to fall
sleep. (Although the baby will fall asleep, the meditator should not!)

The first
stage of preparation in noting the breathing "chasing after the whole
time" is like when the baby sitter must turn her head from side to side
with the swinging hammock so that it isn't out of sight for a moment. The
second stage where the breathing is noted at the nose tip "waiting and
watching at one point" -- is like when the baby is ready to sleep and the
baby sitter watches the hammock only when it passes her face.

When you have
practiced and trained fully in the second step, you can train further by making
the area noted by sati even more subtle and gentle until there is secure,
stable concentration. Then concentration can be deepened step by step until
attaining one of the Jhanas,
which, for most people, is beyond the rather easy concentration of the first
steps.

The jhanas are
a refined and precise subject with strict requirements and subtle principles.
One must be strongly interested and committed for that level of practice. At
this stage, just be constantly interested in the basic steps until they become
familiar and ordinary. Then you might be able gather in the higher levels
later.

May ordinary
lay people give themselves the chance to meditate in a way which has many
benefits both physically and mentally, and which satisfies the basic needs of
our practice, before going on to more difficult things. May you train with
these first steps in order to be fully equipped with sila (morality), samadhi(concentration),
and pañña (wisdom), that is, to be fully grounded in
the noble eightfold path. Even if only a start, this is better than not going
anywhere. Your body will become more healthy and peaceful than usual by
training in successively higher levels of samadhi. You will
discover something that everyone should find in order to not waste the
opportunity of having been born.

Notes

1.Sati is a key term in
Buddhist meditation. It means "recall, recollection, awareness, attention,
mindfulness." All of these concern the present and do not involve memory
or thought. In this article, the activity of sati is
conveyed through a number of verbs: to fix, to note, to attend, to pay
attention, to be aware, to experience. (Sati does not mean
"to concentrate or focus.") Please study these various words and
their meaning in each context, then you will have a correct understanding of
sati, namely, what it is and how to use it to get free of dukkha.

2. Don't try to push other things out of
awareness that will create tension. Just keep your attention centered on the
breathing in a balanced way. Let go of anything that takes you away from the
breathing.

3. In fact, our breathing tends to be unhealthy,
which contributes to many physical and mental problems. Please learn to breathe
freely and naturally.

4. "Anapanasati" is the
Pali term for the practice of mindfulness with breathing (the very subject of
this essay).

6. The jhanas are states
of one-pointedness which result from highly developed concentration which is
turned inward. In them one is only aware of a particular object and certain
mental factors.

4.The outcomes
of mindfulness meditation

Researchers theorize that mindfulness
meditation promotes metacognitive awareness, decreases rumination via
disengagement from perseverative cognitive activities and enhances attentional
capacities through gains in working memory. These cognitive gains, in turn, contribute
to effective emotion-regulation strategies. More specifically, research on
mindfulness has identified these benefits:

Reduced rumination

Several studies have shown that
mindfulness reduces rumination. In one study, for example, Chambers et al. (2008)
asked 20 novice meditators to participate in a 10-day intensive mindfulness
meditation retreat. After the retreat, the meditation group had significantly
higher self-reported mindfulness and a decreased negative affect compared with
a control group. They also experienced fewer depressive symptoms and less
rumination. In addition, the meditators had significantly better working memory
capacity and were better able to sustain attention during a performance task
compared with the control group.

Stress reduction

Many studies show that practicing
mindfulness reduces stress. In 2010, Hoffman et al. conducted a meta-analysis
of 39 studies that explored the use of mindfulness-based stress reduction and
mindfulness-based cognitive therapy. The researchers concluded that
mindfulness-based therapy may be useful in altering affective and cognitive
processes that underlie multiple clinical issues.

Increases positiveness

Those findings are consistent with
evidence that mindfulness meditation increases positive affect and decreases
anxiety and negative affect. In one study, participants randomly assigned to an
eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction group were compared with controls
on self-reported measures of depression, anxiety and psychopathology, and on neural
reactivity as measured by fMRI after watching sad films (Farb et al., 2010).

The researchers found that the
participants who experienced mindfulness-based stress reduction had
significantly less anxiety, depression and somatic distress compared with the control
group. In addition, the FMRI data indicated that the mindfulness group had less
neural reactivity when they were exposed to the films than the control group,
and they displayed distinctly different neural responses while watching the
films than they did before their mindfulness training. These findings suggest
that mindfulness meditation shifts people's ability to use emotion regulation
strategies in a way that enables them to experience emotion selectively, and
that the emotions they experience may be processed differently in the brain
(Farb et al., 2010; Williams, 2010).

Boosts to working memory

Improvements to working memory appear
to be another benefit of mindfulness, research finds. A 2010 study by Jha et
al., for example, documented the benefits of mindfulness meditation among a
military group who participated in an eight-week mindfulness training, a non-meditating
military group and a group of non-meditating civilians. Both military groups
were in a highly stressful period before deployment. The researchers found that
the non-meditating military group had decreased working memory capacity over
time, whereas working memory capacity among non-meditating civilians was stable
across time. Within the meditating military group, however, working memory
capacity increased with meditation practice. In addition, meditation practice
was directly related to self-reported positive affect and inversely related to
self-reported negative affect.

Focus

Another study examined how mindfulness
meditation affected participants' ability to focus attention and suppress
distracting information. The researchers compared a group of experienced
mindfulness meditators with a control group that had no meditation experience.
They found that the meditation group had significantly better performance on
all measures of attention and had higher self-reported mindfulness. Mindfulness
meditation practice and self-reported mindfulness were correlated directly with
cognitive flexibility and attentional functioning (Moore and Malinowski, 2009).

Less emotional reactivity

Research also supports the notion that
mindfulness meditation decreases emotional reactivity. In a study of people who
had anywhere from one month to 29 years of mindfulness meditation practice,
researchers found that mindfulness meditation practice helped people disengage
from emotionally upsetting pictures and enabled them to focus better on a
cognitive task as compared with people who saw the pictures but did not
meditate.

More cognitive flexibility

Another line of research suggests that
in addition to helping people become less reactive, mindfulness meditation may
also give them greater cognitive flexibility. One study found that people who
practice mindfulness meditation appear to develop the skill of
self-observation, which neurologically disengages the automatic pathways that
were created by prior learning and enables present-moment input to be
integrated in a new way (Siegel, 2007a). Meditation also activates the brain
region associated with more adaptive responses to stressful or negative
situations (Cahn & Polich, 2006; Davidson et al., 2003).

Relationship satisfaction

Several studies find that a person's
ability to be mindful can help predict relationship satisfaction — the ability
to respond well to relationship stress and the skill in communicating one's
emotions to a partner. Empirical evidence suggests that mindfulness protects
against the emotionally stressful effects of relationship conflict (Barnes et
al., 2007), is positively associated with the ability to express oneself in
various social situations and predicts relationship satisfaction.

In addition, mindfulness meditation
practice appears to increase information processing speed (Moore &
Malinowski, 2009), as well as decrease task effort and having thoughts that are
unrelated to the task at hand.